Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

From Here to Eternity (1953), Fred Zinnemann, Columbia The Hitch-Hiker ( 1953), Ida Lupino, RKO Suddenly (1954), Lewis Allen, United Artists The Mad Masters (1955), Jean Rouch The Killing (1956), Stanley Kubrick, United Artists Pal Joey ( 1957), George Sidney, Columbia Moi, Un Noir ( 1958) Jean Rouch, Films de La Pleiade The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery ( 1959), Charles Guggenheim, United Artists Intimidation ( 1960), Koreyoshi Kurahara, Nikkatsu A Taste of Honey ( 1961), Tony Richardson, British Lion The Notorious Landlady (1962), Richard Quine, Columbia T he Great Escape ( 1963) , John Sturges, United Artists The Pink Panther ( 1 963), Blake Edwards, United Artists A Shot in the Dark (1964), Blake Edwards, United Artists Chained Girls (1965), Joseph P. Mawra Django (1966), Sergio Corbucci, B.R.C. Produzione Tecisa Torn Curtain (1966), Alfred Hitchcock, Universal ...

I've previously written on my obsession with Iron Fist, and I plan to continue my foray into analysis of later comics in that franchise, taking a look at how they changed with the introduction of Marvel's answer to the Blaxploitation genre, Luke Cage. Before that I want to explore the strange milieu of Marvel's earlier martial arts hero, Shang-Chi, the "Master of Kung Fu." He made his first appearance in Special Marvel Edition #15 in December 1973, six months before Iron Fist appeared and is one of the first heroes of the martial arts comics boom. Created by the interestingly weird team of writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin to cash in on Marvel's recent acquisition of Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu and their rights to the Kung Fu television show, he paved the way for future martial arts heroes. Shang-Chi is a Wushu master, skilled in both hand to hand combat and and weaponry. He uses both, unlike Iron Fist who tends to just use his hands and fe...